Three of South Ayrshire's main tourist beaches have been named among the UK's dirtiest.
Heads of Ayr, Ayr (South Beach) and Troon (South Beach) have all made the list of shame.
The trio have been highlighted as part of a new study looking at water pollution from E.coli and Intestinal enterococci.
The study, completed by Save on Energy, comes at a time when many Brits are seeking summertime staycations due to Covid restrictions on foreign holidays.
And the findings come shortly after four beaches in South Ayrshire landed Keep Beautiful Scotland accolades.
A total of 546 coastal waters in England, Scotland and Wales were analysed in the study.
Official government readings for faecal indicators such as E. coli (EC) and Intestinal Enterococci (IE), were used before the beaches were scored based on the measurements found.
Heads of Ayr ranked the UK's second dirtiest beach with Ayr (South Beach) in third.
Troon (South Beach) was listed seventh on the filth list.
It comes as a £10 million project is underway to improve the water quality at Ayr's South Beach.
Environmental bosses are trying to stop the shoreline from receiving a 'poor' quality water reading for the fifth year in a row.
Should it do so, bathers will be warned to keep out of the sea.
South Scotland Tory MSP Sharon Dowey, herself an Ayr resident, said: “It’s a real disgrace that out of the top 10 dirtiest beaches in the UK, three of them are in Ayrshire.
"We have an incredibly beautiful coastline in the south west but it risks being spoiled by pollution.
“These beaches are only going to see more visitors in the summer months, with young families swimming in what has been revealed to be some of the dirtiest water in the UK.
"Urgent action is needed and that’s why I've just lodged a question in the Scottish Parliament asking what the Scottish Government are going to do to clean up our beaches.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said: “SEPA does not recognise the method or how the data was used so it is not possible to comment on these findings as they do not reflect SEPA’s classification.
“This season Scotland has more bathing waters rated as excellent, good or sufficient than at any point since tighter standards first came into force in 2015 – with 94% achieving one of the three grades.
"There are also half as many bathing waters rated poor as there were in 2019 – down to five from the 10 two years ago.
“Although SEPA classified Ayr (South Beach) ‘Poor’ for the fourth year in a row this year, we are working closely in partnership with Scottish Water and South Ayrshire Council on a number of significant water quality improvement works to improve the quality of the water for it to remain a designated bathing water.”
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